with your hand in mine
by Val-Creative
Summary: Moonshadow Elves and Sunfire Elves haven't always seen eye-to-eye. But the rules of living a untroubled existence in Xadia, however, are simple: Do not consort with any of the humans. /Canon AU. Femslash. Oneshot.


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Moonshadow Elves and Sunfire Elves haven't always seen eye-to-eye. But the rules of living a untroubled existence in Xadia, however, are simple: _Do not consort with any of the humans._

_They are a poison, not a blessing whom you should seek._

Her mother's words echo through Rayla's skull. She had been initially found with Callum and Ezran on the outskirts of the Sunfire regions, evading the hunt of Callum's 'friends' when two of the Sunfire Elf Knights captured Rayla and tossed her into a endless, labyrinthine dungeon.

And now she has a massive headache on top of it, as Claudia strains and huffs angrily against the bindings keeping their arms and wrists locked behind them. They've been forced together, back-to-back. Instead of wandering around and tripping over rocks, Rayla manages to convince her to _sit down_ only to feel Claudia aggressively, impatiently worming back up against her shoulders.

"_Ow_!" Rayla yelps, ducking her head forward when Claudia's skull hits her. "Could you not do that?"

"It won't budge—_uuugh_!" A high-pitched, frustrated noise. "What in the hells is this?" Claudia yells, glaring at the dungeon-chamber entrance, its thick, wooden door securely bolted. Not that it matters — there has to be a handful of Sunfire Guards patrolling the nearby underground corridors. None of them pay any mind to them for now. Likely discussing who to inform about the prisoners and how to _properly_ execute them.

"Ropes enchanted by the Sunfire elves. I told you already that Dark Magic will not do anything…" Rayla hesitates, her violet eyes landing on her gear and weaponry left to a table, widening, "_but_…" and the cogs in Rayla's head turn round, round and round, "… … would you be able to get my knife?"

"Listen," Claudia speaks up, jerking her head and grimly side-eyeing her, "I understand there isn't a way out of this right now, but I refuse to drag around your corpse."

Rayla blinks, confused. "What?" she asks, growing more confused _and_ flustered at the eerily knowing and monotonous look. "_No_—what, no, my knife has magical properties when I wield it. It is meant for the hand of a Moonshadow Elf. Once I have it back—maybe I can cut through the rope."

"_Oh_," Claudia says quietly, her lips rounding out. "Sure."

It takes a long moment of concentration but the other girl mutters out a spell and a gust of strong, localized wind bursts out and forms around Rayla's knife, lowering it, sweeping it gently onto the floor.

Claudia heaves her leg out, nudging the object with her boot towards herself, leaning herself and Rayla deeply sideways in attempt to fumble for the knife's decorative, silvered handle. Claudia's fingers scramble over Rayla's as they pass the small, Moonshadow knife between each other.

A single thread of a rope _cuts_ against Rayla's hold and she screams. What feels like burning-hot _flames_ explodes over Rayla's hand gripping her own weapon. The knife drops.

One of the guards thrusts his head in, as soon as Rayla's scream turns into low, pained whimpering.

Claudia sends him a bright, smiling look, winking exaggeratedly and puckering up her lips. He shudders in revulsion, shutting the huge, dungeon chamber-door loudly and re-bolting the door.

"… This is the only way, isn't it?" she whispers solemnly to Rayla, feeling down behind herself for the Moonshadow knife lodged between their lower backs, cradling it up and pressing it back into Rayla's hands. To Claudia, the rigid and dense knife-handle feels blissfully cool to the touch.

Rayla breathes out harshly, cringing and kicking her foot stubbornly against the wall.

"If we somehow make it out of this alive, I won't kill you," Claudia tells her, grinning. As if the other girl can sense it, Rayla's next exhale morphs into a shudder-broken laugh. "I promise you."

"_How generous_," Rayla murmurs, preparing herself for the inevitable, making another cut, "_aah_—"

They can't alert the guards again. She slices into the enchanted ropes, quickly and roughly, biting down on her lower lip and muffling out the agonized noises increasing in volume in Rayla's throat. The longer it goes on, the _more_ Rayla can feel the sun-scotching heat on her exposed flesh.

As soon as the ropes are loosened enough, Claudia leaps onto her feet, and Rayla follows, discarding her knife. The elf-girl kicks the dungeon's wall harder, staggering and _shrieking_ close-mouthed.

Dark blue blood leaks copiously from Rayla's palm, trickling and dripping to the floor.

Claudia eyes her. She sighs, exasperated, snatching and examining the wound. Instead of using Dark Magic, Claudia rips off two pieces of her gold-and-dark clothing. "Don't," she whispers, holding firm as a quivering Rayla tries to pull away. The first cloth-piece soaks up Rayla's blood, folded into a square, and the other, long cloth winds around Rayla's palm and fingers, bandaging her up.

"See?" Claudia declares, her expression softening. With both of her hands clasped to her, she lifts Rayla's palm and smacks a light kiss over the space of her injury. "All better now."

Rayla stares, baffled, her violet eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

The pain has her woozier than before. _Hallucinating_. That has to be it. Because there's _no way_ this human who wants her dead, and Callum and Ezran dead, could ever think to—

—a guard enters, startled. His gold-glowing sword unsheathes.

Somehow, with Claudia's hand around hers, Rayla knows she can make it out of this.

Like a touch of fate's blessing.

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_The Dragon Prince isn't mine. Was,,,, not expecting to even be able to write this ship. I just did it for the hell of it and it,,,,,,,,, turned out good? Wow. Official Femslash February 2019 prompt "**Sharp**" and randomized trope "**Enemies Forced To Work Together - Common Enemy**" for today! Comments absolutely welcomed!  
_


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